MALTA -- It could be a long time before the construction at GlobalFoundries slows, especially if it moves forward with plans to build Fab 8.2 -- a second chip fabrication plant that could cost as much as $15 billion and take as long as four years to build.

The new plant would essentially be a bigger version of Fab 8 -- a 575,000-square-foot cleanroom built to process silicon wafers.

While plans for the new plant aren't set in stone, the company has taken the first steps of getting the project approved, to ensure the option will be there if market conditions, infrastructure and regulations line up.

Malta Supervisor Paul Sausville said most of the environmental impact statements for Fab 8.2 have been approved and now the town is in the final stages of developing its finding statement, which condenses a large quantity of technical information into one concise summary.

Advertisement

"We're moving forward with the project," Sausville said. "Fab 8.2 would provide a huge benefit to the state and county."

The company hopes to have its proposed amendments to its Planned Development District approved by August.

"If we decide to move forward with 8.2 project, then we would start the site plan approval and permit process, which would involve some state approvals," GlobalFoundries spokesperson Travis Bullard said.

If the project is undertaken by the company, it will require approximately 2,500 onsite construction workers a day.

Not counting the temporary construction workers, Fab 8.2 would triple the current number of GlobalFoundries employees -- from roughly 2,000 to 6,000. The campus is designed for 10,000 workers; anything beyond that would require new environmental impact statements and infrastructure improvements.

Officials estimate that Fab 8.2 would have a total payroll of $106 million.

The design of Fab 8.2 includes the main fabrication building, a combined electric service building and central utility building, three miscellaneous manufacturing support buildings that include service yards, a high voltage electric switchyard and small support buildings. Roughly 1,300 parking spots would be added.

The company also proposed raising the allowable height of the roofs by 15 feet, making them visible from various points of Saratoga Lake. The raised roof height has a direct relation to mitigating sound pollution that GlobalFoundries neighbors

complained about when the company first set up shop.

The new manufacturing plant would be known as Fab 8.2, not Fab 9. GlobalFoundries reserves the term "fab" for new campuses, not modules. The facilities in Singapore are an exception, as the five buildings there are individually called fabs because they were built by a company called Chartered, which used that naming convention. Chartered has since been acquired by GlobalFoundries, which uses a different name.

Bullard said the decision to add a new module to its campus is based on a variety of factors, including regulations, infrastructure, the local work force and conditions of the global marketplace. In the world of fabrication plants, it's crucial manufacturing capacity meets the demand.

For the moment, the company is waiting to hear from the Malta Town Board.

"We are still hopeful that our proposed amendments will be accepted by the town, but we shall see," Bullard said.